In today's devotional, Paul addresses a very important question; are believers allowed to live however they want? Does our conduct asper morality, do they matter?

Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:15‭-‬20 NLT

Paul's answer is simple; we don't own ourselves anymore, we have been bought with a price and the one who bought us says it matters.

If you are a Christian, you should care whether your life is pleasing to God or not.

By the time apostle Paul wrote first Corinthians, it was his third contact with the church in Corinth. His first visit was when he established the church. We see this in Acts of the Apostles chapter 18. The second time he spoke to them through a letter. He had heard of moral decadence amongst them and he felt he ought to address it.

The book of First Corinthians is therefor Paul response to the feedback he received from his first letter through someone from Chloe's house.

During Paul's first visit establishing the church, he lived among them for about two year along with Priscilla and Aquila. He worked as a tent maker during that time to sustain himself so as not to burden anyone. This background will help you understand Paul's tone and reasoning as he addresses the issues in this church.

In chapter one, he addresses division and infighting. Chapter two, he talks about Christ, the wisdom of God and how that sounds foolish to the hearer. He tells them that Christ is the power of God that saves us.

"I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began."

1 Corinthians 2:3‭-‬7 NLT.

Also, the Corinthians believers were comparing Paul to other more powerful and eloquent ministers; like Peter and Apollos. Paul's words because he also lived amongst them as a tent maker was not sounding powerful compared to others. The began questioning Paul's authority as an apostle.

I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:6‭-‬11 NLT.

The book of First Corinthians will bless you. It is applicable to our present day churches and denominations. It addresses some of the same issues we have in our churches and family today.

Paul concludes the book of Romans with a charge all of us should pay attention to even today;

"We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” Romans 15:1‭-‬3 NLT.

The Christian way is to consider others, not just the the strength individual but the wholeness of the entire body. I can be strong individually and that is good, but the Christian way is to ensure my actions help build others and not tear them down.

He sais; "Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory." Romans 15:7 NLT.

I wish we can all just pay attention to this. Accept other people's differences, stop being prejudiced and discriminatory. If Christ accepts this person, at the least, I should be able to treat them as a Christian brother for Christ's sake. If God has accepted someone, that should be enough. It is Christ that should matter, not our differences.

There is this verse in Romans chapters 13 that blows my mind every time I read it.

"Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

Romans 13:14 NLT.

Clothe yourself with, wear the presence of Christ, put Him on as if you had your best clothes on. That means be conscious others can see Christ on you. That means when you show up, you are representing Christ. That's powerful!

In today's devotional, the apostle Paul tells us that we are living sacrifices. This would have been a somewhat difficult concept to explain as sacrifices are supposed to be dead on the altar. What did Paul mean?

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Romans 12:1 NLT.

In the New testament, unlike the Old, God wants a living and holy sacrifice, Paul says that is what is acceptable to him.

Normally, a sacrifice is supposed to be dead on the altar, if not, it might walk away when the fires comes on. Si when Paul ask us to be living sacrifices, it is with the understanding it will take a resolve to remain on the altar as we offered.

Secondly, the fact that we are alive on the altar implies that we live every single day of the remaining day of our lives for him. And so in this same chapter, Paul addresses Christian social conduct.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Romans 12:9‭-‬16 NLT.

Christians worship God in Spirit and truth. We worship him with our words and in our every day conducts.

The apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11 has an answer for those who says; once saved, forever saved. The logic simply stated says that once a person gives their lives to Christ, they cannot lose it. They take it further and say, the person cannot lose their salvation even if they deny Christ and live however they want. Paul's answer is;

Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.

Romans 11:22‭-‬24 NLT.

Israel lost God because they stopped believing in him and were then cut off. Paul is warning us, if he cut them off because of their rebellion and idolatry, they even chose other gods to lead them. Paul says we would experience the same if we fall into the same error.

The Lord will never forsake those who put their trust in him, as long as we are holding on to God and our faith is in him, we can be sure that he would save us.

I am here to tell you that nothing can separate you from the love of God showered on us in Christ Jesus.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35‭-‬39 NLT.

I have had people ask me; why does God allows evil in our world? Why does he allow people to suffer? I tell them, first of all, it was our world, it is no longer, we handed it over to the devil when Adam sinned. Secondly, there is suffering in our world because we live in a fallen world currently ruled by evil. However, we have this promise, no matter what we suffer ot go through, nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God. Nothing we suffer can separate us from his love.

The apostle Paul's message in these 2 chapters are so huge. Firstly, for anyone in Christ, you are not bound to the Law. Second, though the power of the Law is real and sin cooperating with the sinful nature inside every will want to control us to live a life of sinful desires, we have been release from that control in Christ to live by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Romans 7:4‭-‬6 NLT.

For those of us in Christ, we died to the power of the Law because we died with Christ. And because Christ Jesus is alive today, through him we can live our lives to glorify God, we do not have to live by the dictates of the sinful nature in us.

Paul also says, and this would have been difficult to accept for those who have been trying all their lives to obtain righteousness by the works of the law;

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Romans 8:1‭-‬4 NLT.

In Christ, a Christian has fulfilled the just requirement of the law. The just requirement of the law that says; the soul that sin must die and the wages of sin is death, yes, we have fully met those requirements when we died in Christ.

Paul explains in no uncertain terms how we received the gift of righteousness; it's the work of God's grace, undeserved and unmerited favour. He compares it to what happened to us when sin was passed on to us from Adam so that just by the fact we were born into this world, we became sinners. In Christ, we are born again into righteousness. Halleluyah!

But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:15‭-‬19 NLT.

This is simply amazing, I wish the world could hear this; God's free gift to you is right standing with him accomplished by the sacrifice of God him.

As a result, Paul says sin has no power over us.

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

Romans 6:6‭-‬10 NLT.

My God. Halleluyah! Sin does not have any power over us anymore.

Romans chapters 3 and 4 should be read by every believer every single, it contains an elaborate and comprehensive brief of what the message of grace is all about. I am sure Paul was aware of the many questions that people had been asking, and so he employs asking the questions and providing answers to them. Put in a single verse, this is Paul's argument;

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Romans 3:19‭-‬20 NLT.

It is that simply, obeying the law has never saved anyone and will not save us, it is faith in God expressed through Christ Jesus that saves.

I love Paul's arguments here even though I know most people would disagree. Let me say that again, the law cannot save you, the law was never intended to save us. The purpose of the law was to show us how utrerly sinful, lost and helpless we are.

The purpose of the law is to help us realize how much we need God.

The law has concluded every single man born of a woman, since the creation of the world, is guilty. Trying to then obtain righteousness by doing that same law is completely futile. Paul says;

"no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands."

The solution is simple;

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

Romans 3:23‭-‬25 NLT.

In Christ Jesus, you are free from the penalty of sin. Halleluyah!